Alberto Contador's defiance, Fabio Aru's form and Elia Viviani in red for Team Sky

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Orica-GreenEDGE control the opening week

Alberto Contador takes the pink jersey into the first rest day (Pic: Sirotti)

Orica-GreenEDGE celebrate on the podium after winning the team time trial (Pic: Sirotti)

Alberto Contador couldn't even pull on the pink jersey after crashing on stage six, but El Pistolero has battled on (Pic: Sirotti)

Riders spill across the road after a spectator appears to bring down Daniele Colli in the stage six sprint (Pic: Sirotti)

Astana have had numbers at the front of the bunch in every stage so far (Pic: Sirotti)

Elia Viviani is currently top of the points classification, while Richie Porte is third on GC (Pic: Sirotti)

Orica-GreenEDGE control the opening week

Four riders have worn the maglia rosa so far, and three belonged to the Australian-based Orica-GreenEDGE team.

The 2015 Giro has seen the squad repeat the success of 12 months ago, when Svein Tuft and then Michael Matthews locked down the pink jersey for the first week after Orica-GreenEDGE won the opening team time trial in Belfast.

This time out, Orica-GreenEDGE repeated the feat in San Remo and Matthews’ two-day stint in pink means he has worn the leader’s jersey in each of his last three Grand Tours now, while Simon Gerrans and Simon Clarke have also topped the GC during the first week of this year’s Giro.

With a powerful team time trial squad, and a roster packed with strong all-rounders, Orica-GreenEDGE have mastered how to make the most of their resources. At the moment, they don’t necessarily have riders to go for an overall win – though British fans will hope Adam and Simon Yates one day deliver on their huge potential.

And yet, in the last 24 months, Gerrans (twice), Matthews (three times), Clarke, Tuft and Daryl Impey have led a Grand Tour for at least one day.

What some of their rival teams would do for that kind of success and exposure.

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